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#OWS On Expanding Occupy Locations Into Liberated Zones

++++https://helpmatrix.wordpress.com/2011/12/17/ows-on-expanding-occupy-locations-into-liberated-zones/ ++++Posted: Sabbath 12-17-2011 By @Peta_de_Aztlan aka Peter S. López
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Unless you have been living in a cave or under a rock you should be aware of the global impact the Occupy Wall Street Movement (Twitter hashtag #OWS) has had on progressive politics and the ever growing People’s War of Resistance against corporate greed, government corruption and military repression both here in the USA and throughout the world.

VIA #OWS Website ~ “Occupy Wall Street is leaderless resistance movement with people of many colors, genders and political persuasions. The one thing we all have in common is that We Are The 99% that will no longer tolerate the greed and corruption of the 1%. We are using the revolutionary Arab Spring tactic to achieve our ends and encourage the use of nonviolence to maximize the safety of all participants.

This #OWS movement empowers real people to create real change from the bottom up. We want to see a general assembly in every backyard, on every street corner because we don’t need Wall Street and we don’t need politicians to build a better society. The only solution is World Revolution”

When I first saw the #OWS website I was thrilled to see the concept of World Revolution on its Home Page. In order for revolution to be relevant to the masses worldwide it must be global in nature, not only local. Existing socialist countries cannot fully develop their potential under a global economy that is corporate controlled by the advanced industrialized countries spearheaded by the Amerikan Empire. There can be no independent nation nor any valid claim to genuine nationhood under the power of an imperialist empire that can invade, occupy and rape its natural resources. It takes more than a pretty flag, a catchy song and a starched uniform.

#OWS is ‘leaderless’ in the sense that there is no unified chain of command of official leaders with rank-and-file members who could easily be targeted, arrested and isolated by the forces of reaction. Natural leaders will arise and emerge in the natural process of waging an ongoing Resistance War and come to the frontlines to help stimulate the people’s advanced vanguard elements. Leadership is mandatory in a valid long-lasting revolutionary movement. Every follower is a potential leader.

Ar first #OWS seemed like ‘manna’ from heaven to many progressive activists. It has taken the form of a new humane rights movement against the evils of corporate capitalism. It is a natural continuation and expansion of other movements, such as, the Civil Rights Movement, the Black Liberation Movement, the Immigrant Rights Movement and other social justice movements. Many so-called Leftists and other progressive activists have jumped on the #OWS bandwagon. It has evolved far beyond merely camp site engagements in various occupy locations. There is so much more to be done and a lot of the doing has to take place on the local level with global coordination.

In real ways, the Occupy Wall Street movement is not your typical movement. It is more of a network of local movements interconnected together in a matrix without a single governing center point ~other than the original Occupy group of protestors in New York City. Democratic consensus is established via local General Assemblies on the local level. #OWS has manifested itself in different forms in different locations and has grown to be a worldwide phenomenon. It reflects the general unrest in the world that was stimulated by the Arab Spring. However, social movements for justice, liberation and democracy have long existed in the world.

We must all come to understand the historic nature of revolution as a dynamic process of life ~ an essential element in our collective evolution as an endangered species. We cannot settle for the temporary occupation of public property upon ground that we cannot really hold onto. We cannot be satisfied with only liberating one zone on the planet and leave the rest of the world under the continued global powers of corporate capitalism and authoritarian fascism. No one is secure until we are all secure. We must envision the historical development and transformation of our various occupations into creating future Liberated Zones.

We need to create Liberated Zones we can hold onto, defend and expand under the powers of an existing fascist police state. The fascist authorities know we are coming and gathering our forces. In fact, we need to enter into an on-going debate about the whole legitimacy of the U.S. Government. It exists more as a belligerent rogue regime than a functional government that serves the people’s needs under its domain.

Amerikan Fascism is now more openly emerging here now inside the United States, but it has been solidifying its powers for decades. It is starting to show its fascist fangs. Fascist repression manifests itself in many ways. It wages mass psychological warfare against the masses with the science of mass control and mass marketing. Many of us even repress ourselves. We are afraid to be seen as too radical while starving children die. We are afraid of turning off people when we discuss politics with others who are not even turned on in the first place. We become timid, fearful and just go along with a lost herd. We must lose our fear of self-exposure, not hide our beliefs in anonymity and have the courage to express our thought-out real opinions. Recall: the ultimate aim of fascism is to destroy, defuse or distract any real revolutionary consciousness.

Global Revolution is the ultimate solution, not mere local surface reforms. However, those of us involved in the Resistance must keep in mind that revolution is illegal and will not be permitted. It is against the law to advocate the overthrow of the government as ‘overthrow’ means violence.

As a General Strategic approach we need to advocate the promise of a Peaceful Revolution. The advocacy of Peaceful Revolution is not merely a politically expedient tactical tool. It is a rational way of proceeding. A movement must move to stay alive and when it is energized we must be able to keep the momentum going or it will scatter its forces and wither away. We want to reach out to as many people as we can now via social networking, local community organizations and personal interactions with others in our lives. In the long-run, we want to occupy and liberate the world because the world belongs to its inhabitants, not greedy evildoers.

We have seen the corrupt revisionism of past socialist liberation movements after an initial revolution in China, Russia, North Korea and other regions. There has been no communism in modern times. Communism means a classless society not divided by economic classes. Marxist-Leninist ideology is an outdated archaic ideology. We must open our eyes and take a fresh clear look at our general situation. Ideology is merely a system of thinking and analyzing connected reality, not a sacred theology. Do not worship ideology and blindly follow any belief-system attached to a mortal’s name.

Our approach to revolution must be rational, practical and take into account the basic survival needs of the people. Our basic survival needs will form the basis of our global unity: food, clothing, shelter, medical care and quality education. We must ensure our survival as we strive towards worldwide liberation. A strictly violent approach to revolution is reactionary adventurism, as is a strictly non-violent passive pacifist approach. Such unbalanced extremes exhibit a basic lack of self-faith, a lack of faith in the masses of people and a lack of undying faith in the people’s unlimited potential to rise up and wage a Resistance War. We shall always uphold our sacred right to self-defense but we should not irresponsibly advocate violence. We will never be anyone’s dumb punching bag or obedient open targets for target practice by anyone. We must continue exhaust all peaceful methods of struggle in order to win as many over as we can now.

We need to view the general situation as a protracted War of Resistance. We cannot naively expect quick easy solutions to global problems in the global context of an interconnected complicated situation. People will not long follow and support fools and fanatics. We need to be serious about our collective and personal efforts. For us, life is war, not an extracurricular activity. We are fighting for our lives.

It will help us to study the history of past revolutions and revolutionary wars. We need better guidelines for present actions and in order to better plan future actions. Learn historical lessons paid for in blood by fallen warriors. Do not simply try to repeat past actions without using creative originality and flexible ingenuity. We must strive to agree upon our general strategy and set of tactics, though there will be some dissension and continued discussion among us. Fundamental transformation requires the seizure of state power as a grand strategic aim and control of the military by the masses led by vanguard elements.

We may use different terminology in our analyses yet they can embody the same meanings. There is no cookie cutter or crystal ball we can use. There are no stainless gurus. We cannot simply await the 2nd coming of Christ. For certain we cannot import foreign tactics without considering their practical applicability to our immediate present situation. Those of us in the USA are not in Tunisia, Egypt or Libya. Each of us is where we are here now. Rational realism is at the very core of revolutionary theory and its successful social practice. We need to balance theory and practice, analysis and action, being with doing.

We need to engage in ‘concrete analyses of concrete conditions’, then devise appropriate responses to those conditions on the local level. The key concept is ‘think global, work local’.

* We need to build up strong cultural organizations that are not only political groups but function more as multi-dimensional vehicles for local community education, cultural affairs and mass mobilization. Liberating activity must become a part of our cultural life-style, including the arts, music and natural sciences.

* We need to build a viable community infrastructure so we can meet our basic survival needs, such as, building up inner city communes involved in creating self-sustaining communities, including shared housing for homeless refugees. In the process we must unite with our natural allies and come together.

* We need to continue to build a people’s mass media via Internet Power that will help us feed consciousness. Twitter, Facebook and the Internet in general are powerful social networking websites we need to use to share ideas, engage in constructive dialogue and search out for kindred spirits.

If we are to create a Liberated Zone we must first liberate ourselves, free our minds and liberate our souls from the systemic negatives we have inherited from being raised in a sick inhumane society. It does no good to get rid of an unjust system if we have not first gotten rid of our own character defects that could carry the seeds of future counter-revolution.

We need to work on ourselves on a personal individual level, do our own personal inventory and take care of our own wholistic health. We need to get rid of our worst character defects, correct our personal shortcomings and abstain from all forms of fixation, addiction and obsession. One does not have to always be right, get the last word or even be on the same side. Sometimes our friends can become enemies and enemies can become friends. Seek unity, love one another, build solidarity and respect the individuality of all peoples.

An actual Global Revolution would lay a firm solid foundation for world peace, but we will still have to deal with our own personal issues. Revolution is not a cure all. For example, it will take a long time to get rid of the negativism that has been instilled in us from childhood, such as, racism, sexism, nationalism and other anti-life negatives. We must change, adapt and evolve or perish.

In the long run we need to build a new revolutionary culture that is humane, creative and in harmony with the connected reality we face in our daily lives. No one being has all the answers. Together we can continue to search for answers, seek solutions and unite with our natural allies. Together we can create a new world based upon pure love in the same process of eradicating the evilness in this old world We must see each other as one humane family of humankind struggling to survive, succeed and shine in the world today. Venceremos! We Will Win!